Wallpaper is back – and you may not recognize it

We have seen a resurgence in the usage in wallpaper lately. With the ability to print directly from a digital file, interior designers, photographers, or any creative soul can now see their vision realized in a big way. Many designers are using this technique with an accent wall of a custom motif created specifically for that space. Although this article highlights ready to sell wallpaper designed by specific artisans, anyone can achieve a similar look and get it printed for about half the price as a prefabricated product.

Wallpaper was a booming industry for years until the late 1990s, when it fell out of fashion as faux paint finishes came roaring onto the interior-decorating scene. Floral patterns and fruit borders were no longer innovative.

Wallpaper looked tired.

But fear not, people: Wallpaper is back. But it’s different — so different, you might not recognize it. (Full disclosure: My husband is a wallpaper hanger, so some of my evidence is firsthand.)

Accent Design Studio in Fort Worth, Texas, has seen a big increase in the use of wallpaper in its interior designs in the past two years. And it’s because the new papers really complement the faux-paint walls. “It may cost 40 percent more to wallpaper a room than paint it, but the impact is worth it,” Accent co-owner Cindy Peck says.

Popular TV designer Candice Olson, host of HGTV’s “Divine Design,” wallpapers an accent wall in many of her designs and is helping to make wallpaper hip again. She started her own line of wallpaper, available through York Wallcoverings, a year and a half ago. Olson’s new collection comes out in December.

Consider these emerging trends:

PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGERY

When I saw this wallpaper, it took my breath away. It’s absolutely a piece of art. Trove is a wallpaper studio based in New York. It uses photographic imagery to create depth in large-scale prints. This pattern, Indi, inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” is simply stunning. Roll width is 35.5 inches, $16 per square foot. The image featured is 12 feet high by 6 feet wide.

Trove, under the direction of Jee Levin and Randall Buck, began with images inspired by the 100-year-old flower market in the middle of Manhattan. The studio uses natural elements as the basis of its designs. Serendipitous, too, that the paper itself is eco-friendly and recyclable. Learn more at www.troveline.com.